From one captured image, if an image (virtual viewpoint image) to be obtained by capturing the same subject from a virtual viewpoint different from a viewpoint relating to the captured image is generated in a pseudo manner, it is possible to generate a group of images that can provide a so-called stereoscopic view that is adopted in a 3D television technique, etc.
However, in the virtual viewpoint image, an area corresponding to a portion of the subject that has not been captured in the original captured image forms an area (an occlusion area) in which pixel values are indefinite.
In view of this problem, a technique has been proposed in which a pixel value relating to the occlusion area is compensated based upon a statistics derived from a texture of each of images divided based upon a so-called region-competition method (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-151534, etc).
In the technique of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-151534, based upon an image (non-stereoscopic image) by which no depth information is given in an explicit manner as well as in an implicit manner as in the case of a stereo image, depth estimation data is generated so that a stereoscopic image is generated in a pseudo manner based upon the depth estimation data and the non-stereoscopic image.